Who is the Chinese tycoon who bought the painting of Modigliani? – ElTiempo.com

The Chinese taxi driver Liu Yiqian become magnate has shocked the art world with the purchase at auction in New York a painting by Modigliani $ 170 million, the second most expensive in the world. “Nu couche” (“Nude lying ‘) 1917-1918, the Italian Amadeo Modigliani, was acquired by Liu after an intense nine-minute auction house Christie’s, New York.

A spokesman Liu said the work will be exhibited in the museum in 2017 Long Museum in Pudong, Shanghai, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of its inauguration.

Virtually unknown outside China, Liu, 51, has made several purchases of works of art in recent years to supply its two museums. According to Forbes magazine has a personal fortune of 1,380 million dollars, making him one of the richest men in China.

Liu was enriched in the Shanghai stock market during the 90s and now runs a conglomerate active in various sectors. Last year he set a record in the art market to buy a small porcelain bowl from the Ming dynasty by $ 36 million. Then he published photos in which he was seen drinking tea with the “bowl Rooster” (named for its decoration) sparking a controversy in social networks.

In April, Liu He paid 14.7 million dollars for a vase of 800 years of the Southern Song Dynasty and in March fell by 14 million with an album of Buddhist art and calligraphy from the Ming Dynasty 600 years old.

Millionaire justified these purchases for their patriotism, ensuring that they are returned to China objects that were stolen over the centuries. “It’s like the Getty, the Guggenheim and the Whitney. In the West, and now in China, there is a long history of collectors who want to make a name and mark history,” said Clare Jacobson, author of a book about new Chinese museums.

Liu Yiqian also acquired last year by $ 45 million a Tibetan tapestry “thangka”, the fifteenth century, he said, to repatriate the Chinese heritage, despite Tibet independence claims. Some of its acquisitions have been involved in the controversy, as the manuscript of the Song dynasty he bought for $ 8.2 million and, according to a respected group of Chinese experts, is false.

According to a spokesman for the Long Museum, Hu Xiaofei, there is a risk that the Chinese authorities veto the box when exposed in the museum despite being naked.

“It’s art museum and duty is to share the works of art with everyone,” he says. Some experts have criticized the eclecticism of the collection of Liu, ranging from antiquity to modern times and includes Chinese and foreign works. But as Hu Xiaofei “our exhibitions are very modern and avant-garde”.

AFP